Curioso: ellos quieren ser europeos, porque lo son, y nosotros les rechazamos. Con los turcos, al reves.

Poll: More than 75% of Jewish Israelis want to join EU
By Raphael Ahren, Haaretz Correspondent


More than 75 percent of Israeli Jews would like Israel to join the European Union, a recent survey found. Among the country's Arab population, 40 percent support the idea. In general, six out of ten Israelis see the EU favorably. The same percentage of Israeli Jews would want Israel to join NATO, while among Israeli Arabs the idea was supported by only 19 percent. Commissioned by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's Israel office, the survey also found that Germany and its chancellor, the right-of-center Angela Merkel, have a "very favorable image" among Israelis, according to the opinion of 56 percent and 65 percent of respondents, respectively. "Regarding Israeli relations with Germany, most of the respondents want to see deeper cooperation in the fields of culture, education and youth in particular," according to the foundation. More than 60 percent of Israelis think because of the Holocaust Germany has "a special obligation to support Israel." Perhaps surprisingly, 36 percent of Israeli Arabs share that view.

The survey, which was conducted earlier this month by Keevoon Research, also found that 40 percent of Israeli Jews might be eligible for EU citizenship, with at least one grandparent being born in an EU member state. More than half of Israeli respondents think the EU's support for a two-state-solution as the only framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict increases the possibility that they will support the EU. 600 people responded to the survey, which was a representative sample of the population in Israel. 500 Israeli Jews were interviewed in Hebrew while 100 Israeli Arabs were interviewed in Arabic. The survey has a 4.1% margin of error.